Welcome to day five of the Christmas Virtual Cookie Exchange and Blog Hop hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt! Last year was my first year to participate in this blog hop and you can read that post here. If you are new to my blog, and you’d love a great southern recipe, check out that post and the recipe for Aunt Myra’s Tea Cakes! Though it’s certainly not the healthiest, there’s not much better than sugar, flour, and butter, y’all!!
So this year, I’m trying to be really good, but…it’s hard at times when there’s so much Christmasy goodness to be enjoyed! There have been a lot of cute and yummy looking reindeer goodies on the hop this year. I love reindeer, so when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make them. They are quick and easy and ohhhh so cute!! I saw this recipe on Gluesticks and knew this would be perfect and would also be an easy recipe for the grands when they come for our annual Christmas cookie baking day! Below is a pic of our fun day from a couple of years ago when I made them chef’s aprons and hats! They had a blast and so did I!
So, onward to the recipe for Chocolate Caramel Reindeer! This is a quick and easy take-off on chocolate caramel turtles!
Gather your supplies. You will need soft caramel candies, such as Werther’s, chocolate melting wafers, pecan halves, eyeballs, red candies for nose (I used red M&Ms), and parchment paper. Full instructions are below, but basically you melt the caramel in the microwave, and drop a spoonful unto the parchment paper. Next press two pecan halves on to each side of “head” for ears/antlers, then drop a spoonful of melted chocolate on top. Quickly add your eyes and nose and there you have caramel turtle Rudolphs! LOL I also sprinkled with gold sugar glitter to give them a little more pizzazz!! In addition to the pecan halves, you could add mini pretzels and the pecans could be the ears and the pretzels the antlers! Be sure to keep them on the parchment paper so they won’t stick to each other. They will easily slip off the paper when you are ready to enjoy them! Disclaimer: I cannot confirm that several candy eyes and noses were eaten due to them being turned upside down, sideways, getting chocolate in the eyes, etc.!! I might add that I think hot caramel is awesome!!! But I can’t really confirm that either! ?
I also made this cute little mat to hold my Reindeer candies and a mug of cocoa for Santa! Maybe it will still be warm by the time he gets to our house! (Art work by AMB Illustrations.)
As a bonus, if you have an embroidery machine, you can make one for yourself. It is all done in the hoop except for top-stitching around after it is birthed (turned). You could use some pretty decorative stitches on your machine for this part! This in-the-hoop design (including quilting) is free until, Monday, December 9th, so grab it before then! After that it will be for sale in my shop. It comes in several sizes and all major formats. This one is done in the 8×8 quilter’s hoop on my Pfaff Creative Icon. But I’m using the same design in the 5×7 size, on my Bernina 830, to make a name tag for our December guild meeting/holiday coffee. You can download the file here. Just add the format of your choice to the cart and it should show FREE in the price at checkout, though it shows the regular price on the page. All my Christmas and Angel designs are on sale, so look around to see if you might find something else you can make for quick gifts, such as Christmas kitchen towels or candle wraps. If you have any problems email me.
I hope you have enjoyed exchanging virtual cookies/recipes with everyone this week. If you haven’t made it around to visiting all the bloggers, there is still time! You can find the schedule on Carol’s blog, here. The remainder of the schedule for today is:
Kris Loves Fabric
Domestic Felicity
Karrin’s Crazy World
Songbird Designs (you are here!!)
Melva Loves Scraps
Brenda’s Quilt Blog
Please stop by and leave my fellow bloggers a sweet comment! We really do appreciate each and every one of them!
Also, swing back by on the 9th when I will be participating with Fat Quarter Shop in a new Quilt Along! I think you will like this little project!
Thanks so much for visiting! Until next time…
Your little mug mat is super cute, the reindeer is adorable <3
Oh, Brenda, what a fun recipe and what cute helpers. Your mug rug is amazing too. Thank you for the recipe.
The Chocolate Caramel reindeer cookies sound so delicious! Will have to make some for sure. That mug rug is adorable as well. Yes, the “grands” in the kitchen aprons and hats is a precious photo.
I made the mug rug and it turned out great. Thanks for the design. the recipe sounds good.
Love your helpers in their outfits! Thanks for sharing the nummy treat as well as the really cute mug rug. Think our grandson amongst others will love the reindeer! Thanks for joining in the hop. Had great fun checking out all the bloggers!
The reindeer cookies are just too cute and so are your baking helpers. 🙂 Love the reindeer mug rug.
That mug rug is SEW darling (and thanks for the treat recipe, too!!)
Your recipe looks yummy. Love your helpers.
Thanks so much for the design. Hope to get a chance to use it this week. Great last minute gift idea.
Yummy cookies Brenda! Your little much rug is adorable! AMB Illustrations creates such cute things!
You are right that there are a lot of reindeer options on this hop, but they are all a little different than each other. I’ve been collecting them for when my grandkids are a little older…we could make a different reindeer each year and then toss in some snowmen options as well. What fun. Your little goodie mat is quite cute as well.
Oh, my. I’ve been busy downloading!!! Wonderful recipe and one that everyone’s going to love. The design is perfectly sweet; I know it’ll be super. Thank you for both. Have a great Christmas season.
Thank you, so sweet. Love the cookies and the MugRug.
Thanks so much for the great cookie recipe and the embroidery pattern. I can’t wait to try it. Thanks for sharing!
Brenda, your reindeer treats are simply delightful!! So are your baking helpers, with their cute chef’s garb!! I really like your sweet embroidered piece, too — makes me rather wish I had the machine to make one! Thanks so much for sharing!! Hugs to you! 🙂
Hi Brenda! Aww, your baking chefs are so darn cute! We need an updated photo of them – I know they grow like weeds. These reindeer treats are so cute and even better, easy to make. This is the kind of recipe I will be making with my littles once they get just a wee bit older – they’re two and one right now. Merry Christmas to you and your family. ~smile~ Roseanne
Oh my gosh, I don’t know if the reindeer candy or the mug rug is the cutest, but combined they are a perfect match. Thanks for the design. I will be stitching out my own mat before the holiday season is over.
Such delicious reindeer!!! Thank you for the recipe. Absolutely love your reindeer mug rug!! I wish I knew how to import patterns to my embroidery machine!! I’ve had my Bernina for 8 years and all I’ve figured out how to make is labels for my quilts using letters only. The manual isn’t user friendly and I know I’m only using about 5% of the machine’s capability!! I really want to make your reindeer!!!
Oh my gosh…how cute is that group of apron sweeties! Lucky you to have such sweet helpers. Your reindeer candle holder is adorable and looks perfect among those caramel yummies. Thank you for hopping and sharing with us.
Thanks for the lovely mug rug design and the recipe! Merry Christmas!
What fun looking cookies and darling mug rug. Thanks for sharing, Merry Christmas!
Your reindeer cookies are adorable! Thank you for the recipe. Love your reindeer mat, and thank you for the free download. I have a Babylock machine. This design will be so cute for Christmas. Love the picture of your “chefs.”